JD(S) flays Siddaramaiah's visit to China next week

MANGALORE: Senior JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy today rapped Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah for his plans to visit China next week at a time when farmers are suffering from damages caused by floods and drought.

"Siddaramaiah should meet farmers affected by floods and drought in the state. There is no need for him to go to China as we have all the opportunities and resources in the state itself," the former chief minister told reporters here.

Kumaraswamy said it was really strange that neither the chief minister nor his cabinet colleagues had visited the flood-hit and drought-affected areas.

Siddaramaiah is visiting China next week for three days to attract investment to the state.

The JDS leader said Siddaramaiah was doing no better than the previous BJP regime to tackle flood and drought situations in various parts of the state. "Siddaramaiah had accused BJP of hypocrisy when he was the opposition leader but now he is behaving as the previous government did," he said.

On his resignation as state JDS president following the party's loss of Mandya and Bangalore rural Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in the recent by-polls, Kumaraswamy said in next three days a decision will be taken with regard to the new chief.